Children and Young People on the Margins Response to Senedd Inquiry

Children and Young People on the Margins Response to Senedd Inquiry Submitted by the Bevan Foundation to the Children, Young People and Education Committee in response to their inquiry into children and young people on the margins, which in summary relates to missing children and those vulnerable to criminal exploitation. [...] Unaccompanied Children 1.1 Unaccompanied Children and the risk of exploitation The Bevan Foundation wishes to highlight the potential impact of the Illegal Migration Act on the likelihood of Unaccompanied Children going missing from care. [...] Along with the pending power to remove Unaccompanied Children from local authority care and place them in home office accommodation (not yet in force), the Illegal Migration Act sends a message to Unaccompanied Children that they are unwelcome in the UK and that they will be detained and removed after their 18th birthday. [...] Without a secure future and faced by the likelihood of detention and removal, the vulnerability to exploitation of Unaccompanied Children in care – and generally of children within asylum seeking families or with insecure status – is greatly increased. [...] Children affected by No Recourse to Public Funds 2.1 Financial exclusion Ensuring that financial support is available for children affected by No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), including entitlement to Free School Meals, the Schools Essential Grant, and devolved benefits such as the Emergency Assistance Element of the DAF, will add to the household budgets of families excluded from much of the w.